Today's News

“Closer to Home” is the name of Lower Cape Fear Hospice & LifeCareCenter’s three-year capital campaign to raise $3.5 million for the construction of a seven-bed inpatient hospice care center for Brunswick County patients and families.

Campaign manager Cindy Cheatham of Shallotte said this week the name says it all about why a center is needed in Brunswick County.

Keeping the tax rate the same, continuing to add sand to the beach and reducing the “critter population” of deer and rats appeared to be top concerns for voters at the Holden Beach Meet the Candidates Night Sunday night at the new town hall.

A packed house in the assembly room watched seven candidates—six running for five commissioner seats and the mayor running unopposed—give opening and closing statements and, in between, answer questions from the audience.

CALABASH—Town commissioners have approved a 20-year vested rights agreement for The Pearl development.

Approval came at a special meeting Oct. 21.

At an Oct. 1 workshop, owner/developer DeCarol Williamson and his attorney requested the agreement for the future 900-acre residential and resort development at The Pearl Golf Links along Old Georgetown Road.

They came armed with drawings illustrating Williamson’s vision for the proposed “garden park”-style development they said would take time to build.

Voters in all 19 municipalities in Brunswick County will turn out next Tuesday, Nov. 3, for elections in their respective towns.

Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

Early, one-stop voting continues from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. through this Friday, Oct. 30, and from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at the Brunswick County Board of Elections office, Building F at 10 Referendum Drive in Bolivia.

Absentee ballots are due at the board of elections office by 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2. The last day to request an absentee ballot was this past Tuesday, Oct. 27.

A Brunswick County woman died last week from complications of the H1N1 influenza.

Brunswick County Deputy Health Director Fred Michael said the Brunswick County woman died after doctors delivered her baby at Duke University Medical Center in Durham.

Michael said he did not know the specifics surrounding the woman’s death, because her death was reported to health officials in Durham rather than Brunswick County, but confirmed it was due to complications of H1N1.

Brunswick County agents sold 209 homes in September, up from 170 homes last September but down from 213 sold in August, according to the N.C. Association of Realtors.

Realtor Mary Ann Bechtel, who owns her own company in Ocean Isle Beach, said her office has been “extremely busy” since the end of July. She said her customers are mainly people seeking primary residences.

“People are beginning to sell their homes in other parts of the country. Isn’t that good news?” Bechtel said.

Crape myrtles that have previously been topped can, to an extent, be “untopped.” Select two or three of the stronger shoots per topping knuckle (the knob that develops where the topping cut was made) and prune the others off. Then prune (head back) the selected shoots above outward facing buds to begin to develop a new branch pattern.

The plant will never again have its true or natural crapemyrtle form, but it can be improved.